Pop Music

[.Rai]

In my opinion, the stigma of pop music is a seriously undeserved one. It tells very little about musical content outside of general structure. The stigma is one that basically comes from the fact that pop music has more exposure in general due to a majority of artists being pop these days, I think. There is so much good pop music though, that are less popular in a similar way to how artists of other genres might be good. An equivalency is to base rock music based on a few popular artists: Queen, Muse, the Rolling Stones - I'm sure there's plenty of bad rock music out there.

What is your view on pop music?

[The Hounds Of Anubis]

The stigma attached to pop music is moreso there because of the really popular stuff; That with a large amount of media attention.

It's obvious why it has the stigma attached to it. It's almost nothing but catchy bollocks which lacks much of any substance or good musical structure whatsoever. It doesn't send an interesting message, and it doesn't portray any real musical talent. Now, there's nothing wrong with manufactured music, which most of pop music is now, but it's only good when it's done well. When you have "things" like Miley Cyrus, One Direction et al at the top of the music charts, it becomes and insult to intelligence for a lot of people. They're obviously completely devoid of any talent, the music lacks any technical impressiveness and there's no sign of an interesting message, so naturally a lot of people, myself included, don't understand how it's even popular in the first place, and these people are making a killing when there are plenty of other far more talented musicians who couldn't even come close to making a living off of their music.

So, my opinion on pop music in general is very much that. It's not something I can just use as a blanket statement because "pop music" is generally vague as fuck, but a lot of the more popular stuff is utter bollocks.

[.Rai]

True, true. The stigma is probably entirely entwined with fame. Shame really, because it does mean that a lot of people don't really get into pop outside of these big acts like One Direction.

I mean, even with Taylor Swift (Chris, you being the least subtle fan ever), I don't think a lot of people get into her music based on her polarising effect on people because of her appearance in the media. Red was an incredibly good album, despite being unabashedly pop.

[Lonk]

I would say that I hate pop music for being pop music, but that is as far from convincing as trying to get a hard-right conservative to adopt democratic views.

 

However, I dislike pop music because the genre is full of bland and uninspired structures and messages that would cause a person with common sense to avoid it, yet it popular with the mainstream crowd just because an A-list celebrity sang it.  It's a hypocritical mindgame played by the music industry to convert the minds of those who listen to it to conform to their own views of what "the good life" is.  Probably the best example of this the new Miley Cyrus song.  imo, she tried too hard with the lyrics and especially the video, both of which were base breakers on their own.  On one hand, she talks about how the extremeties of partying is the best way to live (doing cocaine, having orgies, ect.) while on the other hand, the music video is...well, uh, let's not discuss the contents of that abomination since it is not safe for humanity.  While the instrumental is great, it's only Miley Cyrus and other featured background singers that get the attention just because they are famous.  Pop music destroys the foundation of music by getting rid of the "music" and replacing it with "preferred views that we want you to live by".

 

tl;dr: People don't really care for pop about the music, but about who sang it.  Because of this, the music industry can get away with making poor-quality music just because a person who is popular with the mainstream crowd sang it.  Just this reason alone warrants the general stigma on Pop Music and is my personal reason for disliking it.

[.Rai]

I would say that I hate pop music for being pop music, but that is as far from convincing as trying to get a hard-right conservative to adopt democratic views.
 
However, I dislike pop music because the genre is full of bland and uninspired structures and messages that would cause a person with common sense to avoid it, yet it popular with the mainstream crowd just because an A-list celebrity sang it.  It's a hypocritical mindgame played by the music industry to convert the minds of those who listen to it to conform to their own views of what "the good life" is.  Probably the best example of this the new Miley Cyrus song.  imo, she tried too hard with the lyrics and especially the video, both of which were base breakers on their own.  On one hand, she talks about how the extremeties of partying is the best way to live (doing cocaine, having orgies, ect.) while on the other hand, the music video is...well, uh, let's not discuss the contents of that abomination since it is not safe for humanity.  While the instrumental is great, it's only Miley Cyrus and other featured background singers that get the attention just because they are famous.  Pop music destroys the foundation of music by getting rid of the "music" and replacing it with "preferred views that we want you to live by".
 
tl;dr: People don't really care for pop about the music, but about who sang it.  Because of this, the music industry can get away with making poor-quality music just because a person who is popular with the mainstream crowd sang it.  Just this reason alone warrants the general stigma on Pop Music and is my personal reason for disliking it.

Those sort of themes do exist in rock, hip-hop, country and most other genres I can think of. Even the most unsuspecting ones.

Maybe it's just the UK charts, but hardly even a sixth of the songs in the Top 40 are even about that stuff. The most famous stuff is the stuff with generic lyrics: no surprise, it's what sells. It's an utter shame that it drowns out the great pop out there. I don't think Top Charts = Pop, and for that reason, I don't think it's representative of pop music.

Gotye is definitely pop-orientated. Passion Pit's an artist that Agro's particularly fond of. Themes of depression, suicide, and other rather deeply emotional stuff set to a backdrop of insanely happy instrumentals. Fun. are definitely pop-based. Even bands like Muse have clear pop influences. So much awesome pop.

Rock is probably full of as many bland and uninspired structures. It just goes unnoticed because it's not a popular genre. Popularity being based on the audience. VGM is also unabashedly pop a lot of the time (especially the older stuff: based on simple structure and melody because of the technical limitations back then). I am certain there is a lot of below-average VGM out there! We just don't focus on it.

I always can't help but think that the hate is subconsciously being directed at consumers of 'pop' music instead.

[The Hounds Of Anubis]

I think the big difference between pop and other genres is that the mounds of shit aren't what's mostly put high on the pedestals in other genres. Which is a shame, because there's some really good pop music out there, but even that gets drowned out by the repugnant bollocks that tops the charts.

[.Rai]

I agree, but alas, to appeal to the masses who don't know enough about music, you dumb it down. Business at the end of it. It just becomes silly when people judge pop music as bad not because of the music, but more of the business aspect of mainstream music.

[Susie]

Most pop music isn't really my thing, I can't really get into any of the top chart stuff and 90% of the rock bands that have pop-ish elements in them I generally despise, although I absolutely love Synthpop bands. I also would like to say how funny I find it when people complain about the lyrical content of most mainstream music, it's not brainwashing our children at all, and most likely those references about sex, alcohol, and parties are gonna fly over a 9-year old's head without them even realizing it. Also it's not like they only do that in music, it happens in movies, and TV shows as well.

[Lonk]

Those sort of themes do exist in rock, hip-hop, country and most other genres I can think of. Even the most unsuspecting ones.

Maybe it's just the UK charts, but hardly even a sixth of the songs in the Top 40 are even about that stuff. The most famous stuff is the stuff with generic lyrics: no surprise, it's what sells. It's an utter shame that it drowns out the great pop out there. I don't think Top Charts = Pop, and for that reason, I don't think it's representative of pop music.

Gotye is definitely pop-orientated. Passion Pit's an artist that Agro's particularly fond of. Themes of depression, suicide, and other rather deeply emotional stuff set to a backdrop of insanely happy instrumentals. Fun. are definitely pop-based. Even bands like Muse have clear pop influences. So much awesome pop.

Rock is probably full of as many bland and uninspired structures. It just goes unnoticed because it's not a popular genre. Popularity being based on the audience. VGM is also unabashedly pop a lot of the time (especially the older stuff: based on simple structure and melody because of the technical limitations back then). I am certain there is a lot of below-average VGM out there! We just don't focus on it.

I always can't help but think that the hate is subconsciously being directed at consumers of 'pop' music instead.

 

I agree.  There is still good pop out there, but I really blame the masses of people who listen to an artist just by name over material for the stigma.  The fanbase can be just as bad as the CoD fanbase, which has a similar stigma to it.  Unfortunately, because of what the general public believes to be "good pop music", the amount of bad pop outweighs the good amount.  It is a shame too since I think Krewella is an awesome pop musician.

[a bad post]

While I do think the reasons listed above are part of the stigma, I think its also the "hipsters" who bash it just because you heard it on the radio, or a popular celebrity sings it. I'm not going to lie I enjoy the music of artists many people call talentless, but not because they big name celebrities, but because there music sounds genuinely pleasing. In fact a good portion of the artist I listen to, I listen to because I heard some of there songs on the radio.

 

This is another reason for the stigma as well, when people will try to defend everything and anything an artist does, just because they're that artist. People don't listen to music because they enjoy listening to it, but to go along with the crowd, which is also one of the reasons pop has a bad reputation. 

 

While you can say that a good majority of pop is bad I have to disagree with you, because when you get down to music is subjective. Take "Friday" for instance. While I don't like it for its dumb lyrics and somewhat grating beat, its still music and if the person next to me loves it you shouldn't bash them and say they have bad taste in music, because if they genuinely like the song then let them be.

 

Got a little off topic and ranty at the end, but oh well... 

[Cin]

I used to like pop as a child, but I feel the messages conveyed in pop music follow a too similar formula, tending to be the standard, love/break up songs with a few 'rebellion'/party songs, when other genres to me go deeper into life (like Christian Rock: e.g. Skillet's Sick Of It which has the message of not letting what you hate/depresses you about life consume you)

Plus with the rise of Talent Shows most artists that come out of that go into pop as well, and I suppose that is another reason people dislike pop, the number of publicly manufactured bands because of programs like X Factor (who hog the X-Mas number one spot more or less every year bar when 'Killing In The Name Of - Rage Against the Machine' beat it one year).

And a certain J.B's stupidity isn't helping much either.

 

I suppose every genre has bad bands, but since we don't hear 99% of all music, we don't get away of discovering it.

[Night]

I used to like pop as a child, but I feel the messages conveyed in pop music follow a too similar formula, tending to be the standard, love/break up songs with a few 'rebellion'/party songs, when other genres to me go deeper into life.

 

 

 

Personally, I was never a fan of pop since the only pop I was exposed to is whatever mainstream bullshit was played on the radio.

 

Most of the "pop" I actually listen to honestly doesn't sound like the "pop" that most people are accustomed to.

It's all about experimentation, I'm sure there are many songs in every genre that anyone would like.

 

The problem is, people love to label themselves, especially when it comes to music. 

You get the metal heads, rock fans, the EDM guys, country fans, classical enthusiasts, mainstream radio listeners, hiphop/rap fans, etc.

 

It's not often you hear someone say that they just love music. 

[Ｍｒ．Ｒｏｂｏｔ]

Do people categorize Lana Del Ray, Hope Sandoval, Sia and Eisley as pop? Because if they are then pop music are actually good/great and not as cliche or bad as people might think. Also people would always think of Lady Gaga, Bruno Mars, Justin Bieber, Taylor Swift and somehow r&b artist when they think of "pop music"

[Bull3tM0nk3y]

I think it's becoming better.

 

I mean, Get Lucky, Radioactive, It's Time, Can't Hold Us, are really nice songs.